One of the doctrines of Mercer University School of Medicine (MUSM) is his work in rural areas of Georgia. According to the National Rural Health Association, rural areas have fewer doctors and transport, and are at a high risk of problems such as diabetes, coronary artery disease and mental disorder difficulties, making it an important issue nationwide as rural doctors and transport are available.
“In most cases, you have a major doctor. They're the only one who handles you all,” Curry Lowry'26 said of rural health care. “So there's no psychologist, no psychiatrist, no oddin, no. It's just primary care, maybe a pediatrician, and that's really it.”
Specifically, when it comes to mental health, they are reluctant to receive much greater stigma and care than urban. Jennifer Birkin shed some light on this issue as its focus is mental health and maternal care for rural mothers.
“When we're talking about stigma, it's about consciousness too. If you live in an urban city like Atlanta and you're on a bus, you might see a poster about Emory doing new research into anxiety,” Birkin said. “You're exposed to it like that. But in these rural areas, that's not possible because many of these places don't even have a place where buses and posters are available.”
The Centre for Rural Health and Health Disparities states that its goal is to promote health equity and improve the well-being of rural underprivileged people, and that in the past, MUSM has done many influential jobs in rural areas. MUSM partnered with the Rural Health Innovation Center in Georgia and Children's Healthcare in Atlanta to create a better pediatric care system for children in rural Georgia County.
President Donald Trump signed one big beautiful bill law on July 4th this year. A Kaiser Family Foundation study shows that the bill is expected to generate $58 billion in Medicaid cuts in rural areas over the next decade, adding to the “ongoing trends in rural hospital closures.”
“In rural Georgia communities, two out of five, or even half of the communities use Medicaid,” said Michael Kramer, director of the Center for Rural Health and Health Disparities. “For pregnant people, like more than half of all babies born, mothers take Medicaid at birth. So Medicaid is really huge in Georgia.”
“The Medicaid cut will definitely clog the emergency room,” Laurie said. “Emergency rooms need to look at people, whether they have insurance or not, and people can no longer afford a regular doctor.”
Kramer also revealed that Medicaid may not be the only one being cut, and that some projects could also lose federal funding. “Our center has a program called South Georgia Healthy Start, which is specifically aimed at pregnant women, postnatal and newborn fathers. It is a national program that is federally funded, although it has no impact from Medicaid cuts.
Medicaid cuts could affect rural communities, but there is less threat to Mercer's research projects, Kramer said. However, other federal funding decisions could halt some of these projects. Despite concerns over federal fund losses, MUSM will continue to do everything it can in rural areas.
Geetanjali Angara
Geetanjali Angara '29 is an international affairs at Mercer University and is a staff writer for the cluster. Her hobbies are reading, writing and playing the piano. Usually you can find her in a good book or sing a song by Taylor Swift.
